Lucas Rotich, photo by PhotoRun.net
Rotich wins Lake Biwa
LAKE BIWA (JPN, Mar 6): In warm but windless conditions, Lucas Rotich won a close race at the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon in 2:09:11 ahead of Hisanori Kitajima (2:09:16) who was one of four Japanese runners to break the 2:10-barrier on home soil. Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu comprised the podium in third in 2:09:19 ahead of Suehiro Ishikawa (2:09:25), Takuya Fukatsu (2:09:31) and Fumihiro Maruyama (2:09:39). Yuki Kawauchi was seventh in 2:11:53 while Olympic sixth-placer Kentaro Nakamoto will almost certainly miss out on selection for Rio 2016 in eighth in 2:12:06. Ethiopian teenager Shura Kitata set a blistering early pace and passed through halfway in 62:35 (14:40 5km split from 10-15km) and was on course to break the Japanese all-comers’ record but was caught at 29km and faded to 16th in 2:16:09. “The pace was already fast and I thought he would comeback after 30km, so I decided not to chase him,” said Rotich. Leading European marathon-runner Henryk Szost from Poland dropped out before halfway. With help from Brett Larner / IAAF.
Editor’s note: Victah Sailer, who should know, told RBR that Lake Biwa has wonderful race coverage. Here is a fine story on the event: http://japanrunningnews.
